Syrian Civil War Fast Facts

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Updated 1412 GMT (2212 HKT) July 8, 2017

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Photos:Syria's civil war in pictures

Pro-government protesters hold pictures of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his late father, Hafez al-Assad, during a rally in Damascus, Syria, on March 18, 2011. Bashar al-Assad has ruled Syria since 2000, when his father passed away following 30 years in charge. An anti-regime uprising that started in March 2011 has spiraled into civil war. The United Nations estimates more than 220,000 people have been killed.

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An injured man lying in the back of a vehicle is rushed to a hospital in Daraa, south of Damascus, on March 23, 2011. Violence flared in Daraa after a group of teens and children were arrested for writing political graffiti. Dozens of people were killed when security forces cracked down on demonstrations.

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Anti-government protesters demonstrate in Daraa on March 23, 2011. In response to continuing protests, the Syrian government announced several plans to appease citizens.

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Syrian children walk over bricks stored for road repairs during a spontaneous protest June 15, 2011, at a refugee camp near the Syrian border in Yayladagi, Turkey.

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Jamal al-Wadi of Daraa speaks in Istanbul on September 15, 2011, after an alignment of Syrian opposition leaders announced the creation of a Syrian National Council -- their bid to present a united front against al-Assad's regime and establish a democratic system.

Supporters of al-Assad celebrate during a referendum vote in Damascus on February 26, 2012. Opposition activists reported at least 55 deaths across the country as Syrians headed to the polls. Analysts and protesters widely described the constitutional referendum as a farce. "Essentially, what (al-Assad's) done here is put a piece of paper that he controls to a vote that he controls so that he can try and maintain control," a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said.

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Syrian refugees walk across a field in Syria before crossing into Turkey on March 14, 2012.

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An injured man gets treated in a Damascus neighborhood on April 3, 2012.

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People gather on May 26, 2012, at a mass burial for victims reportedly killed by Syrian forces in Syria's Houla region. U.N. officials confirmed that more than 100 Syrian civilians were killed, including nearly 50 children. Syria's government denied its troops were behind the bloodbath.

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Rebel fighters with the Free Syrian Army capture a police officer in Aleppo, Syria, who they believed to be pro-regime militiaman on July 31, 2012. Dozens of officers were reportedly killed as rebels seized police stations in the city.

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A Free Syrian Army fighter runs for cover as a Syrian Army tank shell hits a building across the street during clashes in the Salaheddine neighborhood of central Aleppo on August 17, 2012.

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Family members mourn the deaths of their relatives in front of a field hospital in Aleppo on August 21, 2012.

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A Syrian man carrying grocery bags dodges sniper fire in Aleppo as he runs through an alley near a checkpoint manned by the Free Syrian Army on September 14, 2012.

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Free Syrian Army fighters are reflected in a mirror they use to see a Syrian Army post only 50 meters away in Aleppo on September 16, 2012.

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Smoke rises over the streets after a mortar bomb from Syria landed in the Turkish border village of Akcakale on October 3, 2012. Five people were killed. In response, Turkey fired on Syrian targets and its parliament authorized a resolution giving the government permission to deploy soldiers to foreign countries.

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A Syrian rebel walks inside a burnt section of the Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo hours before the Syrian army retook control of the complex on October 14, 2012.

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Relatives of Syrian detainees who were arrested for participating in anti-government protests wait in front of a police building in Damascus on October 24, 2012. The Syrian government said it released 290 prisoners.

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An Israeli tank crew sits on the Golan Heights overlooking the Syrian village of Breqa on November 6, 2012. Israel fired warning shots toward Syria after a mortar shell hit an Israeli military post. It was the first time Israel fired on Syria across the Golan Heights since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

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Rebels celebrate next to the remains of a Syrian government fighter jet that was shot down at Daret Ezza, on the border of the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, on November 28, 2012.

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Smoke rises in the Hanano and Bustan al-Basha districts in Aleppo as fighting continues through the night on December 1, 2012.

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The bodies of three children are laid out for identification by family members at a makeshift hospital in Aleppo on December 2, 2012. The children were allegedly killed in a mortar shell attack that landed close to a bakery in the city.

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A father reacts after the deaths of two of his children in Aleppo on January 3, 2013.

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A rebel fighter prepares the wires of a car-mounted camera used to spy on Syrian government forces while his comrade smokes a cigarette in Aleppo's Bab al-Nasr district on January 7, 2013.

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Syrians look for survivors amid the rubble of a building targeted by a missile in the al-Mashhad neighborhood of Aleppo on January 7, 2013.

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Rebels launch a missile near the Abu Baker brigade in Al-Bab, Syria, on January 16, 2013.

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An aerial view shows the Zaatari refugee camp near the Jordanian city of Mafraq on July 18, 2013.

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A handout image released by the Syrian opposition's Shaam News Network shows people inspecting bodies of children and adults who rebels claim were killed in a toxic gas attack by pro-government forces on August 21, 2013. A week later, U.S Secretary of State John Kerry said U.S. intelligence information found that 1,429 people were killed in the chemical weapons attack, including more than 400 children. Al-Assad's government claimed that jihadists fighting with the rebels carried out the chemical weapons attacks to turn global sentiments against it.

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The U.N. Security Council passes a resolution September 27, 2013, requiring Syria to eliminate its arsenal of chemical weapons. Al-Assad said he would abide by the resolution.

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Residents run from a fire at a gasoline and oil shop in Aleppo's Bustan Al-Qasr neighborhood on October 20, 2013. Witnesses said the fire was caused by a bullet from a pro-government sniper.

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Syrian children wait as doctors perform medical checkups at a refugee center in Sofia, Bulgaria, on October 26, 2013.

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An injured man is helped following an airstrike in Aleppo's Maadi neighborhood on December 17, 2013.

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Residents wait to receive food aid distributed by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency at the besieged al-Yarmouk camp, south of Damascus, on January 31, 2014.

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A man holds a baby who was rescued from rubble after an airstrike in Aleppo on February 14, 2014.

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A U.S. ship staff member wears personal protective equipment at a naval airbase in Rota, Spain, on April 10, 2014. A former container vessel was fitted out with at least $10 million of gear to let it take on about 560 metric tons of Syria's most dangerous chemical agents and sail them out to sea, officials said.

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A Free Syrian Army fighter fires a rocket-propelled grenade during heavy clashes in Aleppo on April 27, 2014.

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A giant poster of al-Assad is seen in Damascus on May 31, 2014, ahead of the country's presidential elections. He received 88.7% of the vote in the country's first election after the civil war broke out.

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Rebel fighters execute two men on July 25, 2014, in Binnish, Syria. The men were reportedly charged by an Islamic religious court with detonating several car bombs.

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Photographs of victims of the Assad regime are displayed as a Syrian army defector known as "Caesar," center, appears in disguise to speak before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington. The July 31, 2014, briefing was called "Assad's Killing Machine Exposed: Implications for U.S. Policy." Caesar, apparently a witness to the regime's brutality, has smuggled more than 50,000 photographs depicting the torture and execution of more than 10,000 dissidents. CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the photos, documents and testimony referenced in the report.

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Volunteers remove a dead body from under debris after shelling in Aleppo on August 29, 2014. According to the Syrian Civil Defense, barrel bombs are now the greatest killer of civilians in many parts of Syria. The White Helmets are a humanitarian organization that tries to save lives and offer relief.

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Medics tend to a man's injuries at a field hospital in Douma after airstrikes on September 20, 2014.

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A long-exposure photograph shows a rocket being launched in Aleppo on October 5, 2014.

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A man gives medical assistance as two wounded children wait nearby at a field hospital in Douma on February 2, 2015.

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Rebel fighters dig caves in the mountains for bomb shelters in the northern countryside of Hama on March 9, 2015.

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Nusra Front fighters inspect a helicopter belonging to pro-government forces after it crashed in the rebel-held Idlib countryside on March 22, 2015.

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A Syrian boy receives treatment at a local hospital following an alleged chlorine gas attack in the Idlib suburb of Jabal al-Zawia on April 27, 2015.

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A Syrian child fleeing the war gets lifted over fences to enter Turkish territory illegally near a border crossing at Akcakale, Turkey, on June 14, 2015.

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A refugee carries mattresses as he re-enters Syria from Turkey on June 22, 2015, after Kurdish People's Protection Units regained control of the area around Tal Abyad, Syria, from ISIS.

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A man's body lies in the back of van as people search for the injured after airstrikes allegedly by the Syrian government on a market in a rebel-held Eastern Ghouta town on August 31, 2015.

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A sandstorm blows over damaged buildings in the rebel-held area of Douma, east of Damascus, on September 7, 2015.

Timeline:March 2011 - Violence flares in Daraa after a group of teens and children are arrested for writing political graffiti. Dozens of people are killed when security forces crack down on demonstrations.

March 24, 2011 - In response to continuing protests, the Syrian government announces several plans to appease citizens. State employees will receive an immediate salary increase. The government also plans to study lifting Syria's long standing emergency law and the licensing of new political parties.

March 30, 2011 - Al-Assad addresses the nation in a 45-minute televised speech. He acknowledges that the government has not met the people's needs but he does not offer any concrete changes. The state of emergency remains in effect.

April 21, 2011 - Al-Assad lifts the country's 48-year-old state of emergency. He also abolishes the Higher State Security Court and issues a decree "regulating the right to peaceful protest, as one of the basic human rights guaranteed by the Syrian Constitution."

May 18, 2011 - The US imposes sanctions against al-Assad and six other senior Syrian officials. The Treasury Department details the sanctions by saying, "As a result of this action, any property in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons in which the individuals listed in the Annex have an interest is blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them."

August 18, 2011 - The US imposes new economic sanctions on Syria, freezing Syrian government assets in the US, barring Americans from making new investments in the country and prohibiting any US transactions relating to Syrian petroleum products, among other things.

September 2, 2011 - The European Union bans the import of Syrian oil.

September 23, 2011 - The European Union imposes additional sanctions against Syria, due to "the continuing brutal campaign" by the government against its own people.

October 2, 2011 - A new alignment of Syrian opposition groups establishes the Syrian National Council, a framework through which to end al-Assad's government and establish a democratic system.

October 4, 2011 - Russia and China veto a UN Security Council resolution that would call for an immediate halt to the crackdown in Syria against opponents of al-Assad. Nine of the 15-member council countries, including the United States, voted in favor of adopting the resolution.

November 27, 2011 - Foreign ministers from 19 Arab League countries vote to impose economic sanctions against the Syrian regime for its part in a bloody crackdown on civilian demonstrators.

November 30, 2011 - Turkey announces a series of measures, including financial sanctions, against Syria.

December 19, 2011 - Syria signs an Arab League proposal aimed at ending violence between government forces and protesters.

January 28, 2012 - The Arab League suspends its mission in Syria as violence there continues.

February 2, 2012 - A UN Security Council meeting ends with no agreement on a draft resolution intended to pressure Syria to end its months-long crackdown on anti-government demonstrators.

February 4, 2012 - A UN Security Council resolution condemning action against Syria is not adopted after Russia and China vote against it.

February 6, 2012 - The US closes its embassy in Damascus and recalls its diplomats.

February 7, 2012 - The Gulf Cooperation Council announces its member states are pulling their ambassadors from Damascus and expelling the Syrian ambassadors in their countries.

February 16, 2012 - The United Nations General Assembly passes a nonbinding resolution endorsing the Arab League plan for al-Assad to step down. The vote was 137 in favor and 12 against, with 17 abstentions.

March 13, 2012 - Kofi Annan, the UN special envoy to Syria, meets in Turkey with government officials and Syrian opposition members. In a vist to Syria over the weekend, he calls for a ceasefire, the release of detainees and allowing unfettered access to relief agencies to deliver much-needed aid.

March 15, 2012 - The Gulf Cooperation Council announces that the six member countries will close their Syrian embassies and calls on the international community "to stop what is going on in Syria."

March 27, 2012 - The Syrian government accepts Annan's plan to end violence. The proposal seeks to stop the violence, give access to humanitarian agencies, release detainees and start a political dialogue to address the concerns of the Syrian people.

April 1, 2012 - At a conference in Istanbul, the international group Friends of the Syrian People formally recognizes the Syrian National Council as a legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

June 10, 2012 - Abdul Basit Sieda, a Syrian native living in Sweden, is now Syria's National Council leader.

July 23, 2012 - The Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jihad Makdissi, threatens to use chemical and biological weapons against outside forces: "No chemical or biological weapons will ever be used...unless Syria is exposed to external aggression."

July 30, 2012 - The Syrian Charge d'Affaires in London, Khaled al-Ayoubi, resigns, stating he is "no longer willing to represent a regime that has committed such violent and oppressive acts against its own people."

August 6, 2012 - Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab's resignation from office and defection from Assad's regime is read on Al Jazeera by his spokesman Muhammad el-Etri. Hijab and his family are said to have left Syria overnight, arriving in Jordan. Hijab is the highest-profile official to defect.

August 9, 2012 - Syrian television reports that al-Assad has appointed Health Minister Wael al-Halki as the new prime minister.

October 3, 2012 - Five people are killed by Syrian shelling in the Turkish border town of Akcakale. In response, Turkey fires on Syrian targets and its parliament authorizes a resolution giving the government permission to deploy its soldiers to foreign countries.

November 11, 2012 -Israel fires warning shots toward Syria after a mortar shell hits an Israeli military post. It is the first time Israel has fired on Syria across the Golan Heights since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

November 11, 2012 - Syrian opposition factions formally agree to unite as the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.

November 13, 2012 - Sheikh Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib is elected leader of the Syrian opposition collective, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.

January 6, 2013 - Assad announces he will not step down and that his vision of Syria's future includes a new constitution and an end to support for the opposition, which he calls terrorists. The opposition refuses to work with Assad's government.

February 12, 2013 - The UN Security Council estimates that the number of civilians killed in the two-year civil war in Syria is approaching 70,000.

March 19, 2013 - The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces elects American-educated Ghassan Hitto as its prime minister. Though born in Damascus, Hitto has spent much of his life in the United States, and holds dual US and Syrian citizenship.

May 27, 2013 - European Union nations end the arms embargo against the Syrian rebels.

May 27, 2013 -US Senator John McCain visits rebels in Syria. It is reported that he is the highest ranking US official to visit since the beginning of the war.

June 13, 2013 - US President Barack Obama says that Syria has crossed a "red line" with its use of chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin gas, against rebels. His administration indicates that it will be stepping up its support of the rebels, who have been calling for the United States and others to provide arms needed to battle Assad's forces.

July 6, 2013 - Ahmad Assi Jarba is elected the new leader of the Syrian National Coalition.

August 2, 2013 - The UN calls for an investigation into an incident in July in Khan al-Assal in northern Syria. Videos on the Internet purport to show Syrian rebels executing as many as 30 people, most of them government soldiers.

August 18, 2013 - A team of UN weapons inspectors arrives in Syria to begin an investigation into whether chemical weapons have been used during the civil war.

August 22, 2013 - The UN and the United States call for an immediate investigation of Syrian activists' claims that the al-Assad government used chemical weapons in an attack on civilians on August 21. Anti-regime activist groups in Syria say more than 1,300 people were killed in the attack outside Damascus, many of them women and children. Video footage and witness reports appear to bolster claims that chemical weapons were used.

August 24, 2013 - Medical charity Doctors Without Borders announces that three hospitals near Damascus treated more than 3,000 patients suffering "neurotoxic symptoms" on August 21. Reportedly, 355 of the patients died.

August 26, 2013 - UN inspectors reach the site of a reported chemical attack in Moadamiyet al-Sham, near Damascus. En route to the site, the team's convoy is hit by sniper fire. No one is injured.

August 29, 2013 - The UK's Parliament votes against any military action in Syria.

August 30, 2013 - US Secretary of State John Kerry says that US intelligence information has found that 1,429 people were killed in last week's chemical weapons attack in Syria, including at least 426 children.

October 6, 2013 - Syria begins dismantling its chemical weapons program, including the destruction of missile warheads and aerial bombs.

October 31, 2013 - The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announces that Syria has destroyed all its declared chemical weapons production facilities.

November 25, 2013 - The UN announces that starting January 22 in Geneva, Switzerland, the Syrian government and an unknown number of opposition groups will meet at a "Geneva II" conference meant to broker an end to the Syrian civil war.

December 2, 2013 - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says that a UN fact-finding team has found "massive evidence" that the highest levels of the Syrian government are responsible for war crimes.

January 20, 2014 - The Syria National Coalition announces it won't participate in the Geneva II talks unless the United Nations rescinds its surprise invitation to Iran or Iran agrees to certain conditions. The UN later rescinds Iran's invitation.

October 30, 2015 - White House spokesman Josh Earnest says that the US will be deploying "less than 50" Special Operations forces, who will be sent to Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Syria. The American troops will help local Kurdish and Arab forces fighting ISIS with logistics and are planning to bolster their efforts.

February 26, 2016 - A temporary cessation of hostilities goes into effect. The truce calls for the Syrian regime and rebels to give relief organizations access to disputed territories so they can assist civilians.

March 15, 2016 - Russia starts withdrawing its forces from Syria. A spokeswoman for al-Assad tells CNN that the Russian campaign is winding down after achieving its goals of helping Syrian troops take back territory claimed by terrorists.

December 13, 2016 - As government forces take control of most of Aleppo from rebel groups, Turkey and Russia broker a ceasefire for eastern Aleppo so that civilians can be evacuated. The UN Security Council holds an emergency session amid reports of mounting civilian deaths and extrajudicial killings. The ceasefire collapses less than a day after it is implemented.

December 22, 2016 - Syria's state-run media announces government forces have taken full control of Aleppo, ending more than four years of rebel rule there.

April 6, 2017 - The US launches a military strike on a Syrian government airbase in response to the chemical weapon attack on civilians. On President Trump's orders, US warships launch 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the airbase which, US officials say, was home to the warplanes that carried out the chemical attacks.

July 7, 2017 - President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin reach an agreement on curbing violence in southwest Syria during their meeting at the G20 in Hamburg, Germany. The ceasefire will take effect in the de-escalation zone beginning at noon Damascus time on July 9.